Pensacola council approves Escambia Children's Trust exemption after heated debate over funding and oversight

The Pensacola City Council on March 12 voted to grant the Escambia County Children's Trust an exemption under Section 163.387, Florida Statutes, and authorized the mayor to execute an interlocal agreement directing certain tax-increment (TIF) payments to children's services. The motion, moved by Councilman Wiggins and seconded by Councilman Jones, passed 6 to 1.

The request, presented by Megan Frey, legal counsel to the Trust, responded to a city demand for tax-increment payments for the city's community redevelopment (CRA) districts covering 2021 through 2024 and supplemented in November to include 2025. Frey told council the proposed interlocal would allow the city and the Trust to resolve the TIF obligation while ensuring money is used for children's services within the city.

"We did take into consideration previous parks-and-rec grants," Frey said, explaining the setoff math and the proposed payment structure. She said the Trust had asked for a full setoff of prior parks-and-rec grant dollars but the city negotiated a $500,000 setoff because not all earlier grant-funded services were provided inside the CRA boundaries.

Opponents in public comment raised questions about duplication of funding and whether accepting additional Trust dollars alongside existing city grants would benefit children countywide. Tori Woods, who said the city previously received a $1,700,000 grant for free aftercare and summer programs, asked why the city would accept an interlocal worth what she described as $1,800,000 while also pursuing other Trust grants.

"Accepting this $1,800,000 in TIF interlocal agreement and also applying for a Trust grant is not in the best interest of children in Escambia County," Woods said, urging council to consider the distribution and prior payments.

Council debate mixed procedural and policy concerns. Councilmember Charles Baer opposed the exemption, saying TIF dollars are restricted and arguing the city risked "laundering" TIF funds into general city spending. "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request for an exemption," Baer said, citing oversight issues and a history of problems with prior Trust awards.

Mayor's office and Trust representatives pushed back that the interlocal codifies that funds will be used for children's services and pointed to new compliance measures at the Trust, including a dedicated compliance hire and a revised RFP process. A Trust representative said an independent audit had found a clean opinion and that the Trust had strengthened vetting and monitoring.

The council recorded the motion, debate and final tally but did not adopt program-level spending plans; the interlocal requires follow-up to allocate specific grants and programs. The exemption and interlocal are intended to resolve the city's alleged outstanding TIF obligations to the CRA for the covered years and to redirect those dollars to children's services per the agreement.

The council's approval means the mayor is authorized to execute the agreement and proceed with implementation steps laid out in the interlocal; council members said future program-level details and demographic reporting would be provided to the council on request.

Votes and procedure: the motion to approve the exemption was moved by Councilman Wiggins and seconded by Councilman Jones; final passage was 6 in favor, 1 opposed. No individual yea/nay roll-call of each member was read aloud in the transcript; the clerk recorded the tally.